Skip to content

China’s Reaction to Trump’s Election Win

Read More ...

Xinhua Commentary Series: Spotlight on the U.S. Presidential Election

Read More ...

Wu Guoguang: Xi Jinping’s Reversal of the Course, Will China’s Transition be Peaceful or Marked with Bloodshed?

Read More ...

Cheng Xiaonong: U.S.-China Strategic Relations Have Crystallized

Read More ...

Former Raytheon Engineer Sentenced for Violating Arms Export Control Act

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Wednesday, November 18, that the Arizona District Court sentenced Wei Sun, a 49-year-old Chinese engineer, to 38 months in prison. Sun previously pled guilty to a felony charge of violating the Arms Export Control Act (AECA).

According to the DOJ’s press release, Sun is a naturalized citizen of the United States. “Sun was employed in Tucson for 10 years as an electrical engineer with Raytheon Missiles and Defense. Raytheon Missiles and Defense develops and produces missile systems for the United States military. During his employment with the company, Sun had access to information directly related to defense-related technology. Some of this defense technical information constituted what is defined as ‘defense articles,’ which are controlled and prohibited from export without a license under the AECA and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (the ITAR).”

“From December 2018 to January 2019, Sun traveled from the United States to China on a personal trip. On that trip, Sun brought along unclassified technical information on his company-issued computer, including data associated with an advanced missile guidance system that was controlled and regulated under the AECA and the ITAR.”

“Despite having been trained to handle these materials correctly, Sun knowingly transported the information to China without an export license in violation of the AECA and the ITAR.”

According to Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers, “Sun was a highly skilled engineer entrusted with sensitive missile technology that he knew he could not legally transfer to hostile hands.” “Nevertheless, he delivered that controlled technology to China. Today’s sentence should stand as a warning to others who might be tempted similarly to put the nation’s security at risk.”

Source: Department of Justice, November 18, 2020
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-raytheon-engineer-sentenced-exporting-sensitive-military-related-technology-china

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military US-China Relations

CCP Uses Education Base to Export Ideology to Southeast Asian Countries

Recently, Epoch Times has obtained a number of internal CCP documents that expose how the CCP used the Lancang-Mekong cooperation to export its ideology to Southeast Asian countries along with the “Belt and Road” initiative.

According to the “Application for 2018 Special Funding on the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation project” that the Yunnan Nationalities University submitted, the total project funding was 7.62 million yuan (US$1.16 million), where 200,000 yuan (US$30,474) was self-raised funds. The application shows that China plans to build the Lancang-Mekong Vocational Education Base at Yunnan Nationalities University. It will consist of the International Vocational Institute, the Vocational Education Alliance, the Research Institute on Vocational Education and Industry Development, the Industry-Education Integration Zone and the International Cadre Academy. One of the objectives of the education base is to “gain advanced knowledge in a number of fields, including Chinese politics, economics, social studies and the humanities.” The specific courses consist of “The Theory and Practice of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics,” “Innovative Theory Research of the Chinese Communist Party” as well as several others. At the same time, the content of the training includes courses on “Chinese Culture.” One of the examples is “spreading China’s voice in areas such as current affairs, history and foreign policy.” The trainees were also asked to understand the “Belt Road Initiative” and to learn more about China’s experience through the reform and development.

A separate document that the Epoch Times obtained included a report dated May 28, 2020, from the Yunnan Police Academy titled, “Activities on Promoting the Joint Development of the ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative.” The document reveals that, since 2015, the Academy has trained 56 foreign students from Afghanistan, Argentina, Angola, Pakistan, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, and Myanmar and has granted them master’s degree. The Ministry of Public Security provided full scholarships for these students. The academy also recruited 26 undergraduate Law students from Laos with full scholarships. Most of the graduates who returned to their home country are working in a field that has a direct interaction with China so these graduates can assist China in cooperating with their home countries in police enforcement. The Academy has established a Southeast Asian police training base to train police officers from the “Belt and Road” countries in South Asia and Southeast Asia. From 2016 to 2019, the Academy held 67 training courses and trained 1,241 officers.

Source: Epoch Times, November 12, 2020
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/20/11/12/n12542962.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Hong Kong Media: Many People in the Biden Camp Contacted China

According to Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post on the 13th, after the US presidential election, China and the United States restarted their stalled behind-the-scenes diplomacy. This semi-official communication channel is usually through former officials, think tanks and business leaders. A Chinese government consultant revealed that semi-official exchanges between China and the United States have been suspended in recent months, but they have now resumed. Professor Wang Xiangsui of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics revealed that several people close to Biden have recently contacted China and discussed with Chinese think tanks how to restart Sino-US relations.

Wang Xiangsui said that the message from the Biden camp is positive. The message sent by the Democrats visiting China is that China and the United States should avoid a Cold War or direct conflict. Both parties must learn how to manage their differences and find ways to coexist. A Chinese government adviser had previously met Kurt Campbell and Jake Sullivan from the Biden camp. He said that in the past few years, some former Democratic Party officials have visited Beijing many times.

Source: China Press, November 16, 2020
http://www.uschinapress.com/static/content/SZ/2020-11-16/777859594532954112.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

China’s Response to the “Five Eyes Alliance” Statement Concerning Hong Kong: Watch Out for Your Eyes

At the regular press conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China on the 19th, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian answered questions from reporters regarding the “Five Eyes Alliance” statement on Hong Kong, China-Australia relations, and U.S. documents on China.

A reporter asked: The foreign ministers of the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement requesting the Chinese government to reconsider its actions against Hong Kong legislators and immediately restore the relevant membership qualifications. How does China respond to this?

Zhao Lijian said, “The Chinese never cause trouble, nor are they afraid of trouble. Regardless of whether they have ‘five eyes’ or ‘ten eyes,’ as long as they dare to harm China’s sovereignty, security and development interests, they should watch out for their eyes, or they will be pricked blind.”

Source:
China.com, November, 19, 2020
http://news.china.com.cn/txt/2020-11/19/content_76928439.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics US-China Relations

State Department Issues Research Report on China’s Challenges

The Office of Policy Planning Staff of the United States Department of State (DOS) issued a research report on Tuesday November 17, which summarized the behavior of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), analyzed the ideological roots behind the behavior and the vulnerabilities that the Chinese Communist regime faces, and provided suggestions on how the United States should respond to China’s challenges.

The report, titled “The Elements of the China Challenge,” states that “awareness has been growing in the United States — and in nations around the world — that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has triggered a new era of great-power competition. Yet few discern the pattern in China’s inroads within every region of the world, much less the specific form of dominance to which the party aspires.”

The report characterizes the Chinese Communist regime as “modeled on 20th-century Marxist-Leninist dictatorship.”

The report is composed of five sections: the China Challenge, China’s Conduct, the Intellectual Source of China’s Conduct, China’s Vulnerabilities, and Securing Freedom.

The report said, “The CCP aims not merely at preeminence within the established world order — an order that is grounded in free and sovereign nation-states, flows from the universal principles on which America was founded, and advances U.S. national interests — but to revise the world order fundamentally, placing the People’s Republic of China (PRC) at the center and serving Beijing’s authoritarian goals and hegemonic ambitions.”

The report concludes that “meeting the China challenge requires the United States to return to the fundamentals. To secure freedom, America must refashion its foreign policy in the light of ten tasks.”

The ten tasks include:

1. “Securing freedom at home by preserving constitutional government, promoting prosperity, and fostering a robust civil society,” 2. “Maintaining the world’s most powerful, agile, and technologically sophisticated military while enhancing security cooperation,” 3. “Fortifying the free, open, and rules-based international order that it led in creating after World War II,”                          4.“Reevaluating its alliance system and the panoply of international organizations,”
5. “Strengthening its alliance system by more effectively sharing responsibilities with friends and partners and by forming a variety of groupings and coalitions to address specific threats to freedom,”
6. “Promoting American interests by looking for opportunities to cooperate with Beijing, subject to norms of fairness and reciprocity,”
7. “Educating American citizens about the scope and implications of the China challenge,”
8. “Training a new generation of public servants — in diplomacy, military affairs, finance, economics, science and technology, and other fields — and public-policy thinkers who not only attain fluency in Chinese and acquire extensive knowledge of China’s culture and history,”
9. “Reforming American education, equipping students to shoulder the enduring responsibilities of citizenship in a free and democratic society by understanding America’s legacy of liberty,”
10. “Championing the principles of freedom through example; speeches; educational initiatives; and public diplomacy.”

The 70-some-page-long report contains more than 20 pages of footnotes, accounting for almost half of the main body of the report.

Source: State Department,
https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/20-02832-Elements-of-China-Challenge-508.pdf

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Must Religions in China Follow the Party Line?

No religious groups in China can escape the CCP’s control. On November 6, the Great Ci’en Temple in Xi’an organized sessions to study the key points from the fifth plenary session so its members could “maintain a high degree of compliance with Xi Jinping’s dictates while cultivating and practicing core socialist values and steadily promoting the process of the Sinicization of Buddhism.” In November 2019, nuns from the Thousand Buddha Pagodas of the Cloud Gate College of the Guangdong Buddhist University completed a similar session following the CCP’s fourth plenary session. According to a public announcement that the London-based human rights organization, Tibet Watch, made last month, at least two monastery management committees in the Tibet Autonomous Region forced monks to study the messages from the Seventh Tibet Work Forum.

Even though the constitution guaranteed the Chinese people freedom of religion, the reality is that religion is being further limited in its development in China. In 2017, the State Council issued a revised “Regulations on Religious Affairs,” which imposed tighter reviews on religious groups. The newly revised “Regulations” not only emphasizes restrictions on the setup of religious schools and the distribution of foreign religious books; it also clearly stipulates that all religious groups must register with the government and go through a strict financial auditing of its books. They are also required to be vigilant to restrict foreign forces from using religion to infiltrate China.

According to the statistics in a White Paper, “China’s Policies and Practices to Guarantee Freedom of Religious Belief,” which the State Council released in 2018, there are nearly 200 million religious believers in China, about 5,500 religious organizations, and more than 10,000 students in religious schools.

Source: Radio Free Asia, November 11, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shehui/bx-11112020094152.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

China USES Microwave Weapons against India

A few days ago it was reported that the Chinese military used microwave weapons to retake the two hills that the Indian army occupied after the standoff that occurred at the disputed border for several months. By releasing microwaves at the foot of the mountain, the Chinese military turned the mountain top into a “microwave oven.” The Indian troops on the mountain began to vomit and couldn’t stand and eventually had to leave.

Microwave is a high-frequency electromagnetic wave with a radiation wavelength range from one millimeter to one meter, a frequency between 0.3 GHZ and 300 GHZ, and a propagation speed equal to the speed of light. Microwave weapons, also known as radio frequency weapons or electromagnetic pulse weapons and can be used to attack the electronic systems of various weapons and equipment. This is especially important information with regard to warfare targets such as command and control centers and communication transmission networks, causing the entire combat command system a “sudden death.” It can also penetrate armor to kill the personnel directly.

In the field of microwave weapons, the United States, China, and Russia are the leading countries in research and development.

On January 9, 2017, a research team at China’s Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology was awarded the first prize of the State Science and Technology Progress Award for 2016. The winning project was the “High Power Microwave Anti-Missile System.” Huang Wenhua, the team lead, said, “This achievement is for a disruptive technology that represents a major leap forward. It is also a pioneer internationally.”

China’s high-power microwave anti-missile system can be used for naval air defense and anti-missile warfare. It is reported that China’s Type 055 destroyer is equipped with a microwave anti-missile system which can disable the electronic equipment of incoming enemy aircraft and missiles, and even burn the enemy’s pilots.

Sina.com once quoted a paper in March 2017 and reported that China’s microwave weapons are currently undergoing a series of tests for aircraft self-defense, space control, suppression of enemy air forces, and combat command and control communications. It also successfully developed gigawatt-class high-power microwave air defense weapons, and conducted experiments to destroy aircraft and other targets.

Source: Lianhe Zaobao, November 16, 2020
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/realtime/china/story20201116-1101404

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

Four Reasons Why the CCP Arrested Farmer Businessman Sun Dawu,

On November 11, following the arrest of Ren Zhiqiang, China’s real estate tycoon, Xu Zhangrun, a professor at Tsinghua University, and Geng Xiaonan, a publisher who openly supported a dissident law professor, Sun Dawu, a 66 year old businessman from Hebei province, was also arrested.  The charge was for alleged “disorderly behavior and the sabotage of business operations” over a land dispute. State media reported that the homes of 28 members of the senior management team of the Dawu Group, including Sun’s wife, son and daughter-in-law were raided overnight.

On November 15, Han Lianchao posted on his twitter account that Sun Dawu is a well-known farmer and businessman and is highly respected in China. After his arrest, the Internet in China was flooded with people’s reactions. Not only did people from the legal and the economic communities, the news media, and private business circles express their support for Sun in a number of different ways. They vaguely and strongly called attention to Sun’s arrest. Han also published an article a netizen from China wrote commenting on Sun’s arrest. It summarized the following four reasons why Sun was arrested:

1.   He disregarded the unspoken rules. Sun always speaks the truth and refuses to collude with the party officials from the county, the provincial level and the Ministry of Agriculture. He therefore offended the officials.

2.   He was Involved in a land dispute. When a state-owned farm tried to take land from the villagers, the Dawu group tried to intervene. The state-owned farm and the officials from the local county sent people to demolish the Dawu group’s building and got into a physical fight with the workers from Sun’s companies.

3.   He openly comments on reform and supports constitutional democracy. Sun is sympathetic to the rights lawyers and to dissidents.

4.   He owns 28 subsidiary companies. All of them are well managed and successful. They even donated money to build a hospital and schools and the locals favored them.

The article stated that people know what right and wrong are. Totalitarian tyrannies can suppress the public voice but they can’t silence it. Violent suppression will only make China’s peaceful transformation less likely. In facing future social transformation, having blood shed could be inevitable.

Source:
1. Twitter: Han Lianchao, November 15, 2020


2. Sina, November 13, 2020
https://finance.sina.com.cn/chanjing/gsnews/2020-11-13/doc-iiznezxs1748082.shtml

Briefings | | |   Social Stability